The Down & Dirty of Office Cleaning Protocols

As landlords prepare buildings for reentry and tenants prepare to reenter the workplace, CBRE consulted with Shannon Magari, an environmental health scientist who specializes in workplace health concerns, and Scott Salmirs, CEO of ABM, one of the largest facility services providers, to offer clarity to the complex issue of office cleaning protocols.

1. ARE THE NEW CLEANING PROTOCOLS COVERED IN MY LEASE?

The short answer is no, probably not. In a multi-tenant building, cleaning contracts do not typically spell out the level of detail that tenants now seek and expect. In most leases, the pre-COVID-19 cleaning baseline may have been sparse, including only nightly trash pickup and no disinfecting inside the office, other than the bathrooms or possibly a pantry for larger tenants. More robust cleaning is separate and apart from the lease, and every year as operating expenses increase, that gets passed along to the tenants. Landlords and tenants should work together to address the need for increased cleaning protocols, since it is not covered in the lease.

2. HOW CAN THE VIRUS BE CONTRACTED IN AN OFFICE ENVIRONMENT?

Current scientific consensus tells us that a person can contract COVID-19 through two possible routes of exposure:

• The main road is inhalation, which means breathing large droplets through person-to-person transmission. Some reports from mid-May posit that the virus can stay airborne and viable and infectious for up to 16 hours in air, which is why it is necessary to layer on different types of controls.
• Another route of exposure is hand-to-mucous membranes contact, or hand-to-eye, nose and mouth contact from dirty surfaces. Keeping both our surfaces and our hands clean are important.

3. HOW CAN WE MINIMIZE/REDUCE SPREAD OF COVID-19 IN AN OFFICE ENVIRONMENT?

The key message here is that we are absolutely not defenseless in all of this. Layers of protection exist, so we need a “Hierarchy of Controls.” This is the rubric that all health and safety professionals use to anticipate, recognize, evaluate and control all kinds of workplace hazards, whether they are chemical, physical or biological. Up until a few months ago, workplace safety efforts largely focused on the chemical hazards, such as benzene in a production facility, or physical hazards such as tripping. Now we apply this rubric to COVID-19. Because the virus can stay viable for pretty long periods of time on surfaces, up to a few days in some cases, cleaning efforts should be especially focused on high touch surfaces.

Many people are worried about handling the mail; the scientific consensus is that the virus lives on paper for a few hours and cardboard for a day or two. Individuals handling the mail should focus on good consistent hand washing to help mitigate any risk. Employers may wish to let mail sit for a day after it is received before handling to further mitigate any risk.

4. WHAT SHOULD LANDLORDS CONSIDER IN TERMS OF CHANGES TO THE CLEANING SPECIFICATIONS?

A top-tier janitorial company will have a very detailed playbook that landlords can and should ask to see. As a basic framework, landlords should focus on disinfecting high-touch areas prior to reentry and creating a presence that your cleaning takes place frequently and regularly throughout the day to increase tenant confidence that their workplace is safe. Download CBRE’s Landlord Briefing Guide for additional guidance and considerations for building reentry.

5. WHAT ARE THE TENANT RESPONSIBILITIES FOR OFFICE CLEANING?

Now is the time for partnership between landlords and tenants. Tenants and their employees should focus on making the space easy for cleaners to thoroughly disinfect:

6. HOW SHOULD BATHROOM CLEANING BE HANDLED?

Bathrooms contain a lot of aerosols, which is a key route of virus transmission, so landlords and tenants should institute strict guidelines around ventilation and frequency of cleaning. Facilitate social distancing, possibly by blocking off certain stalls or urinals, and turn off hand dryers in favor of paper towels.

7. WHAT ARE THE RIGHT QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CLEANING/JANITORIAL COMPANY?

Your cleaners should have a holistic program. They are expected to share this information, so don’t be afraid to ask for details. Some examples:

Pro Tips

UV vs Electrostatic Spraying vs Elbow Grease?

UV light is a flashy solution with many applications and potential health concerns because it can be harmful to skin. They are best used in confined spaces and require very long exposure times to kill the virus. There are other applications that may be effective in HVAC systems, but are costly to install. Fogging, also known as fumigation or misting which involves the routine application of disinfectants to environmental surfaces by spraying, is not recommended as a replacement for traditional cleaning and disinfection as it has shown to be ineffective in removing contaminants outside of direct spray zones. Certain jurisdictions recommend using electrostatic sprayers as an intermittent compliment to reach difficult to reach spaces and areas mostly comprised of hard surfaces, such as bathrooms. Spraying disinfectants can also result in adverse health effects to the eyes, skin and respiratory system and should be used with caution in accordance with all the manufacturers’ health and safety recommendations, including wearing proper protective equipment when applying the disinfectant. Our Health and Safety teams in each region are working with clients to ensure that we are meeting local public health authority guidelines and can be contacted for more information.

Elevators vs Stairs?

Stairs seem like an obvious answer, but a socially-distanced elevator ride may be safer. People in the stairwells may be less likely to use the handrails, increasing the likelihood of a fall (the number one workplace safety incident registered with OSHA), and regularly sanitizing interior stairwell handles and doors may present an additional challenge.